Friday, October 21, 2011

[Quick Summary: An opthamologist has his mistress killed, & a documentary filmmaker falls for another woman.]

I couldn't find this script available anywhere (boooooo!)

So I re-watched the movie instead (yayyyyyy!)

But it wasn't the same (boooo!)

I was particularly disappointed because this film has many, MANY flashbacks, and it's rare to see flashbacks done right.

(And by "right", I mean flashbacks are there for a specific reason, and not just information dumping.)

In this film, Woody Allen uses flashbacks to show a character's PRESENT EMOTIONAL STATE. That's right - he uses the past to show motives, and/or what the character is feeling NOW.

ex. The mistress waits for her married lover Judah.

The scene goes back to a happy moment when she and Judah walked on the beach. Judah voices doubts: "I don't think we should do this here." She distracts him and mixes up Schubert with Schuman. Judah reassures her: "I'll teach you...some day we'll have a lot of time."

Why is the flashback there? It shows us why the mistress is holding on so tight to Judah NOW.

In the past, they had fun together. He was debonair, he cared about her. He even seemed to promise a future together ("some day we'll have a lot of time").

When the scene returns to the present, it's clear why the mistress feels the way she does.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The flashback can show motive & PRESENT emotional stakes.

ex. If the mistress loses Judah, she loses the only joy her life seems to have.

Friday, October 7, 2011

[Quick Summary: When a spoiled heiress tries to make it home to New York with only a few dollars in her pocket, a journalist helps her out in order to scoop a story, but inadvertently falls in love with her.]

This script is 67 years old, yet it's got more romantic zippity-do-dah than many rom-coms today.

1) Peter (Clark Gable) gets Ellie (Claudette Colbert).

ex. When Ellie gives a poor boy their last dollar, Peter silently admires her for it.

2) Ellie gets Peter.

ex. She silently realizes he's conning the police...& she plays along without missing a beat.

3) They have fun, exasperating adventures together.

ex. Ellie complains that she's hungry. After Peter slips away to find food, Ellie panics. She yells for him, since she's never really been alone before. Peter comes running. She says she's so scared that she's no longer hungry. Peter wants to wring her neck.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I want more "they belong together." I want more of this thing called "chemistry".